Saturday, March 08, 2014

Efforts to restrict reproductive rights are ongoing in several states, but no state is being quite as ambitious as Alabama. Yesterday, the Republican-led state House approved four bills on abortion, including one that would prohibit women from terminating an unwanted pregnancy just six weeks after conception.

The bill would make exceptions if the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life or if a fetus would be stillborn or die shortly after birth but does not make an exception for rape or incest.

An unborn fetus is “a life regardless of the painful, painful circumstances,” McClurkin said.

Physicians would be required to check for a fetal heartbeat. Doctors who perform an abortion without documenting the heartbeat could be charged with a Class C felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

In case it’s not obvious, women sometimes don’t know they’re pregnant until after six weeks. In practical terms, then, Alabama state law would expect women to seek an abortion before they might know they want one.

That seems extreme and somewhat silly. But keep in mind that while the latest Pew poll finds that millenials are far greater advocates for gay rights and have little trust in the moldy old institutions of religion and political parties than previous generations, they do not support reproductive rights in greater numbers than anyone else. (And oddly, they support gun rights to the same extent everyone else does as well. In fact, when it comes to white millenials, it appears they really aren't that much different from the olds. What makes them different is the larger numbers of people of color.)That's depressing. If young people can care about gay rights and gun rights, one would hope they'd be equally concerned with women's rights. But then, women's rights are always waiting their turn. Mom doesn't eat until the family is done.